Thursday, October 8, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT

Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men’s Lives
A FAN webinar featuring Darby Saxbe, Ph.D., in conversation with Richard V. Reeves, Ph.D. (FAN ’26)

REGISTER: www.bit.ly/SaxbeFANWebinar

Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Dad Brain to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.

When we talk about the transformative experience of becoming a parent, we almost always talk about mothers. Research on birth and parenting has focused overwhelmingly on how women’s bodies and brains change, while popular culture still casts dads as well-meaning bumblers muddling through a diaper change. The old assumption persists: mothers are natural parents, and fathers are something less.

In Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men’s Lives, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology Darby Saxbe, Ph.D., inspired in part by her own hands-on, solo father, draws on fifteen years of studying fathers to overturn that assumption. Sharing new findings from her own laboratory at the University of Southern California, from neuroimaging scans and hormone samples to observations of fathers with their children, along with interviews with dozens of first-time dads and scientists around the world, Saxbe shows that “dad brain” is real: becoming a father changes men’s brains and bodies, too. Along the way she explores how fatherhood varies across cultures, why the panic over low testosterone misreads the science, how paternity leave policy can draw fathers in, and what hands-on caregiving means for our ideas about masculinity.

Saxbe argues that taking fatherhood seriously as a science is not a distraction from mothers’ needs but a path to equal partnership, with benefits for children, families, workplaces, and society.

Saxbe will be in conversation with Richard V. Reeves, Ph.D. (FAN ’26), the founder and president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, which grew out of his work as a policy expert and his own experience as a father. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he previously held the Whitehead Chair in Economic Studies. He’s the author of Of Boys and Men and Dream Hoarders, and his current work focuses on fatherhood and on gender gaps in education.

This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.

Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Ancona School, The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Barrington D220, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Connections Health, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenbrook HS D225, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Josephinum Academy, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Oakton College, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson HS D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, Wilmette Public Library, The Winnetka Public Schools, Wintrust Bank, Wolcott College Prep, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.